Late Fall colors

[Steph_B]

Dear Friends,

I thought I would share with you this pic from the VanDusen Garden. This was taken very recently during a gloomy and overcast day. I start enjoying taking pics during bad weather. I'm kind of tired of blue skies and strong shadows!

Please let me know if this works for you. Your recent advices/comments/suggestions have really helped me improved my technique. Thank you all!

F100, Velvia 50 (shot at 40), 24-85 mm G lens. Aperture was probably F8. I used a split ND filter to tone down the sky a little bit. I used the metrix metering and bracketed 0.5 stop. This shot is from the darker frame + some PS work as per usual.

Cheers,

Steph.

[CaSousa]

Steph,

I like this shot. My eye is particularly drawn to the birch trees and the question of what is beyond in the darkness. It has a more of a haunted forest feel to it (despite the color in the foreground). Good work!
Do you frequently shoot velvia at 40 rather than 50? I have yet to experiment with doing this, and was wondering what your thoughts were on it. Also, do you tend to shoot frame by frame like that, or an entire roll at 40?

-Chris

[shesells]

I find this photo extremely rich in color and love, LOVE, that its not the usual sparkly sunshiny shot. You're right, weather is the answer! The worse the better. I just found this site where they take nothing but weather shots and some of them are terrific. Check it out you may get some ideas.

http://www.nbc5i.com/weather/1493049/detail.html

Your shot is intrigueing in it's subtle beauty. Thanks for sharing.
Kit

[Steph_B]

Steph,

I like this shot. My eye is particularly drawn to the birch trees and the question of what is beyond in the darkness. It has a more of a haunted forest feel to it (despite the color in the foreground). Good work!
Do you frequently shoot velvia at 40 rather than 50? I have yet to experiment with doing this, and was wondering what your thoughts were on it. Also, do you tend to shoot frame by frame like that, or an entire roll at 40?

-Chris

Thanks Chris!

Actually, the first time I tried Velvia, all my shots came back underexposed. I shot it at 50 and this was clearly not a good idea. I then started to shoot it at 32 ISO systematically, and everything went well.... till the day I started to use Provia. I also found that, somehow, my shots were underexposed. I then understood that what I considered to be 'medium' toned was actually slightly lighter than that. The camera was not wrong. My assessment of the exposition was the culprit (I use spot metering 90% of the time). Hence, I changed back the Velvia ISO rating to 40 and adpated my metering. This way, I could use Provia at its 100 rating.

It was later on that I discovered that most people shoot Velvia at 40 too!

So now, I am always using the Velvia at 40 ISO and Provia at 100.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Steph.

[Steph_B]

Hey! You made my day! I am glad you like this shot. I did not notice the red berries at the foot of the first tree when I took it. And neither the yellow bushes. I think they do add lots of appeal to the pic.

Check it out you may get some ideas.

Wow! I don't think you would see me outside during storms like those they took picture off! Some of this stuff is pretty impressive. I will stick to overcast and light rain for the time being!

Thanks Kit!

Cheers,

Steph.

[Seb]

Dear Friends,

I thought I would share with you this pic from the VanDusen Garden. This was taken very recently during a gloomy and overcast day. I start enjoying taking pics during bad weather. I'm kind of tired of blue skies and strong shadows!

Please let me know if this works for you. Your recent advices/comments/suggestions have really helped me improved my technique. Thank you all!

F100, Velvia 50 (shot at 40), 24-85 mm G lens. Aperture was probably F8. I used a split ND filter to tone down the sky a little bit. I used the metrix metering and bracketed 0.5 stop. This shot is from the darker frame + some PS work as per usual.

Cheers,

Steph.

Hello Stéphane,

To be honest, I am am thinking that the upper right corner of the frame is too underexposed. The loss of details in that particular area doesn't works for me. I love your composition though, it is really well thought. The way the colors in the foreground shine is very pleasing. It is truly eye catching without feeling over saturated or unnatural.
I like the "haunted forrest" aspect of your picture but I think that a background that would be rather evenly dark (something betwen the upper left and upper right corners) would have been great.

Salutations!

Seb

[Steph_B]

Hello Stéphane,

To be honest, I am am thinking that the upper right corner of the frame is too underexposed. The loss of details in that particular area doesn't works for me. I love your composition though, it is really well thought. The way the colors in the foreground shine is very pleasing. It is truly eye catching without feeling over saturated or unnatural.
I like the "haunted forrest" aspect of your picture but I think that a background that would be rather evenly dark (something betwen the upper left and upper right corners) would have been great.

Salutations!

Seb

You're right. Each time I scroll down I also have the feeling that the top part of the pic is ... well... boring. Maybe I should crop some of it and get a more squarish format. As for the washed out sky, I am still waiting for these ND filters! I should have titled the one I had to cover more sky though. My bad!

Thanks!

Steph.

[Seb]

You're right. Each time I scroll down I also have the feeling that the top part of the pic is ... well... boring. Maybe I should crop some of it and get a more squarish format. As for the washed out sky, I am still waiting for these ND filters! I should have titled the one I had to cover more sky though. My bad!

Thanks!

Steph.

You know what? I think that a sqare crop (getting rid of a part of the sky...) would look terrific with your composition. This is something that did not even cross my mind but it seems plain obvious now that you mention it.

regards

Seb